A Little Touch of Schmilsson on the Net

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Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and other classic novels, died on June 5, 2012, after a long illness. He was 91.

In 1967, Harry Nilsson signed a three-year contract with RCA. Nilsson titled hs first RCA album Pandemonium Shadow Show after “Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show,” a travelling carnival featured in Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Originally, Nilsson wanted to call the album Something Wicked This Way Comes and wrote to Bradbury for permission to use the title. When a reply was not received in time, the album was renamed to Pandemonium Shadow Show. A photograph originally intended for the Something Wicked album cover appears on the back cover of Pandemonium Shadow Show.

Some years ago, I wrote Ray Bradbury to ask him a few questions about Nilsson’s desire to title his album after Bradbury’s novel. I also told him about a tribute CD recently recorded by a group of fans of Harry Nilsson which we titled Something Wicked.

I received the following typewritten letter in response. (You can click the letter to view an enlarged version of it.)

I don’t think he actually answered any of my questions. But, that doesn’t matter. I greatly appreciated that he took the time to respond and share his memories of Harry Nilsson. The letter is now framed and hanging in a place of honor in our house.